Reached for comment, Mr. Wilson muttered something under his breath and stalked off.
Robert Crumb. Prince Valiant. Peanuts.
And now Dennis the Menace.
What do they have in common? As we noticed in the PI, local publisher Fantagraphics is collecting and reprinting each of these series (or oeuvres, in Crumb's case) in multi-volume complete collections.
They'll publish the first volume of Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace in September. They'll publish another 24 volumes over the next 11 years -- that's almost 11,000 strips -- covering Ketcham's run on the strip through 1994, when he retired and turned the strip over to his assistant.
We'll admit it -- we're skeptical. We were too young to remember Peanuts' glory years, but we knew that glory years existed. The justly lauded Christmas special was a yearly reminder, standing in stark contrast to the dull newspaper strips of the '80s and '90s and Snoopy's bizarre career as a health insurance shill.
We recall enjoying Dennis the Menace in our preadolescent years, but we must confess that our clearest memories of the character involve his years as Dairy Queen's mascot. Is Dennis the frickin' Menace really a neglected masterpiece? We hope so. We're looking forward to poring over evidence of the strip's quality and Seattle-born Ketcham's talent. The first three volumes of Fantagraphics' Complete Peanuts series were eye openers -- we'd heard rumors of Schulz's mastery of tone, and while we didn't exactly disbelieve them, there's nothing like being presented with fresh evidence. We're hoping Dennis resembles Peanuts more than it does The Family Circus. (Speaking of, does anyone else secretly wish for a complete Dysfunctional Family Circus?)
Menace notwithstanding, the complete comic collection we're most excited about this year is unrelated to Fantagraphics. That's right -- we'll be buying The Complete Calvin and Hobbes this October (or at least making it clear that it would make an excellent Christmas present for us).
